LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The University of Denver hockey team's
Zeev Buium became the fifth Pioneer to be chosen in the first round of the NHL Draft as the defenseman was picked at No. 12 overall by the Minnesota Wild on Friday night during the 2024 selection at the Sphere.
The 18-year-old is the program's second-highest drafted player and first Round 1 choice since
Henrik Borgstrom at No. 23 by Florida in 2016.
Craig Redmond (No. 6, Los Angeles, 1984),
Joe Colborne (No. 16, Boston, 2008) and
Beau Bennett (No. 20, Pittsburgh, 2010) are Denver's other first round picks in program history. He is the third Denver player to drafted by the Wild, joining
Jason Zucker (2010, No. 59) and current teammate
Rieger Lorenz (2022, No. 56).
The San Diego, California, native recorded the first 50-point season by a Denver freshman in 40 years (1983-84, John McMillan, 57; Dwight Mathiasen, 51) after leading the team with 39 assists and adding 11 goals as the second-youngest player in college hockey in 2023-24. His 50 points ranked second on the Pioneers and marked just the sixth time a D-man reached the half-century threshold in the program's 75-year history and marked just the third such instance by a freshman rear guard.
A first-team All-American, Buium was DU's first freshman defenseman to earn the national accolade and the Pios' first rookie since forward Henrik Borgstrom (first team) in 2017. Buium helped the Pioneers win their NCAA-record 10th national championship in April in Minnesota and earned a spot on the Frozen Four All-Tournament Team. He was also recognized as the NCHC Rookie of the Year, the NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year and was a finalist for the Tim Taylor Award as the national rookie of the year.
Buium registered 12 multi-point games and tallied three or more points on five occasions. He tied for the team lead with his brother, Shai, and ranked fourth in the NCAA with a +33 plus/minus rating—the highest ever by a Pioneer since the statistic first began being tracked in 2005-06. He tied for second on DU in power-play scoring with 14 points (1g/13a) and ranked third on the squad with 41 blocked shots.
He recorded the longest point streak of the season by a Denver player with a 12-game run (4g/17a) from Nov. 3-Dec. 9, which was the longest such stretch by a defenseman in NCHC history (since 2013-14) and the longest by a Pioneer since Bobby Brink had a 14-game streak from Dec. 31, 2021-Feb. 19, 2022 (7g/21a). According to College Hockey News, it was the longest point streak by a freshman defenseman in the NCAA in more than 21 years (online databases presently only go back to 2002) and bested the previous long of 11 outings in a row by Boston University's Lane Hutson from Dec. 11, 2022-Feb. 6, 2023 (3g/16a).
The rear guard registered a team season-best plus-5 rating and registered a career high in points with four assists on Nov. 25 vs. Yale, tied for the most helpers in a game during the season and the most by a DU freshman defenseman since 2002. The performance marked just the third such instance since 2016 by a rookie D-man in the NCAA (Boston University's Lane Hutson, Feb. 3, 2023 vs. Maine; Minnesota's Brock Faber, 5, March 27, 2021 vs. Omaha), courtesy of College Hockey News. Overall, it was just the 14th time that a DU defenseman recorded at least four helpers in a game and marked just the fifth occurrence in the last 20 years since 2004-05. Buium tied his career high in points with one goal and three assists on Jan. 20 at Omaha.
He had his first career multi-goal contest and tallied his first game-winning and overtime-winning goal in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals vs. St. Cloud State on March 22 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then helped DU win the NCAA Championship on the same ice three weeks later where he had the primary assist on a key insurance goal in the 2-0 win over No. 1 Boston College—his 50th point of the campaign. He finished the season with 16 points (4g/12a) in the final 15 games.
The Southern Californian suited up in 42 of Denver's 44 contests during the year, as the only two games he missed (Jan. 5-6 vs. Niagara) was while with the U.S. National Junior Team at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden where he helped the Americans to the gold medal. The youngest player on USA's roster, Buium had five points (3g/2a) in seven tournament games and scored in the third period of the gold medal final vs. host Sweden on Jan. 5.
Buium entered the draft as the highest-rated American player and ranked No. 4 among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting in the bureau's final rankings.
The 2024 NHL Draft concludes on Saturday morning with Rounds 2-7 and several Pioneer players are expected to be chosen. Day 2 of the selection begins at 9:30 a.m. MT, and it will be nationally televised in the U.S. on NHL Network and in Canada on Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
Denver First Round Draft Pick History
Craig Redmond, 1984 - #6 (LAK)
Joe Colborne, 2008 - #16 (BOS)
Beau Bennett, 2010 - #20 (PIT)
Henrik Borgstrom, 2016 - #23 (FLA)
Zeev Buium, 2024 - #12 (MIN)
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